She said she never again had to tell him to split wood.

Now that boy didn't need to be told one reason for cooking. We don't
like our food raw; it doesn't taste so good. At first, perhaps, that
doesn't sound like a very good reason; but it is more important than
you think. For it is a fact that, just as soon as you smell food, your
stomach begins to get ready the juice that is to digest it. If this
very first juice, which is called the _appetite juice_, is not poured
out, then the food may lie in the stomach some little time before it
begins to be digested at all. So it is quite important that our food
should smell and taste and look good, as well as have plenty of
strength and nourishment in it.

Another reason for cooking is that it either softens or crisps our
food so that we can chew it better and digest it more readily. You
know what a difference there is between trying to eat a raw potato and
a nice, mealy, well-baked one, or trying to eat popcorn before it is
popped and after.

Another good thing, too, cooking does, which is very important. It
kills any disease germs, or germs of decay, that may happen to have
got upon the food from dust or flies, or from careless, dirty
handling.

Of course, some of our food, such as apples and other ripe fruits, and
celery and lettuce and other green vegetables, we can eat raw and
digest quite well; but we should be careful to see that they have been
thoroughly washed with water that we know to be pure. Grocers often
have a careless way of putting fruit and vegetables out upon open
stands in front of the shop, or in open boxes or baskets inside the